Car is a 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt, and is not sold in Finland. I have owned it over one year. Can someone point me to information regarding _registering_ this in Finland when I move there?

I have read information about getting cars to pass tests at the Control Centre, and such ... but I am a little worried they would not allow me to register the car. Is there a place I can get a definitive answer when I go to Finland in December for a visit?

import of car type not sold in Finland

What they need here is an EU-nr. You should check out if the car is sold in another EU-country and get that EU-number. With this number the 'Tulli' is able to find out what the specifications are.Look also at :Tulli.fi

Rick1 wrote:What they need here is an EU-nr. You should check out if the car is sold in another EU-country and get that EU-number. With this number the 'Tulli' is able to find out what the specifications are.Look also at :Tulli.fi

Yes, that is important because a car made elsewhere might not pass Finnish specification requirements, including emissions, and more.

Thanks for the replies! I have emailed GM Canada to see if they can find this EU-nr for me, but I have my doubts they will know what I am talking about. Is there a list on the internet somewhere with these EU-nr numbers? I did a search without much luck.

My car is from the Japanese domestic market and was registered without any European Certificate of Conformity and without any kind of type approval document. VTT is the company which deals with the emissions documents, there might be more than one Cobalt in Finland from which you can get the emissions documents, and then you take the car to the test centre and they tell you what you need to change, I'm sure you could visit a test centre before hand, but they'll probably want to see the car before saying anything - that seems to be the way it is, nobody knows what you should do until you start doing it, then everyone has an opinion. Since you've owned it over a year (make sure it's been in use for that time), it should be easier for you if you're bringing it as movable goods, not as a direct import.

It's not really that difficult to register a non type approved car, just involves more phone calls VTT wanted to charge me 1700 euros for the pleasure of an emissions test, meaning I'd have to drive all the way to Lahti, and if it failed, another 1700 and so on. I couldn't be arsed with that, so I took photos showing the stock state of the car (as it was then ) and sent them a mail, to which they replied that if I pay 250 euros I can get a lovely document with all of the correct numbers on it.

Bear in mind, that the newer the car, the more EU crap there is to deal with...

we brought our car from the uk which had been a japanese import to there in the first place (toyota lucida), we had loads of hassle getting it registered , they seemed however more interested in the emmissions and axel weights, in the end I contacted the dvla in the uk and requested all the documents on the vehicle as it must have had a eu single vehicle inspection and match done for its import to the uk, however amongst the japanese papers was a number which is all they needed to do the vehicle match and then it was easy it was all sorted........

So you sent a letter via Posti, with pictures, and they actually responded with numbers in all their glory, and it cost only 250 e? So then you took the letter to Lahti to the inspection centre, and that was it? How much did the inspection centre charge then?

Yep, that's the VTT I've had dealings with There was no CoC or type approval (car was sold in Japan and Australia only) and when I got the papers which contained all of the emissions data (I think it was the NOX level they were interested in most), I could use that at the local test centre. There were 1 or 2 registered in Finland at roughly the same time, so they had the details on their system. After that it was a matter of changing the lights to shine in the other direction etc and I got my plates. I actually never went to Lahti, I live in Oulu and it's a long drive to fail an emissions test. From what I gathered, they leave the car overnight and start it the next day and start measuring immediately. I know it would fail that test I conducted all of the correspondence via email which contained photos of the stock airbox, exhaust, turbos, catalyser etc in place and the VIN plate etc to prove it wasn't modified and was the same car and would/should be the same as the stock engine figures. I remember that I did call VTT at some point and they were very helpful, so maybe you could call and ask if they have the required emissions papers, and even if they are needed for your car.

Is the Cobalt even sold in Europe? Just a quick look and the 2010 car seems to be the same as the Daewoo Nubira, or will be, is the 2009 model the same? How about the engine, has the same one been used in any European cars? Just a bit of speculation here, as I doubt you could use the emissions papers from a different car with the same engine..

I don't know the differences with removal cars as I have no experience, but I've heard it's a lot easier than a single type approval. From memory, the first registration test cost something like 160 euros, then the plates, which were around 50 euros. I got some old type plates (without the EU crap on the side) as the slot for the front plate is pretty small between the intakes, so I was happy about that. Going to miss it over winter, it's icy here now and I think tomorrow could well be the last day to drive it this year.

I talked to my brother, who used to work at GM, and he said it is strictly North American, and has not been re-badged anywhere else. So I guess I will need to converse with VTT to see if they came come up with magic #s for me.

Hi everyone, new to the forum. I thought I would tag a question on the end of this thread instead of starting another.
I want to buy an old Toyota starlet GT turbo in the uk and drive it over and register it here. But, the car was never available in Europe (Japan only) and there are no European headlights available to buy. So it is possible to get a car to pass the registration inspection with just adjusting the original headlights.
Also I can't find any for sale currently only the later model Glanza so if there are no earlier starlets in Finland would this also cause big problems.
Thanks, Andy.

Gandy78 wrote:Hi everyone, new to the forum. I thought I would tag a question on the end of this thread instead of starting another.
I want to buy an old Toyota starlet GT turbo in the uk and drive it over and register it here. But, the car was never available in Europe (Japan only) and there are no European headlights available to buy. So it is possible to get a car to pass the registration inspection with just adjusting the original headlights.
Also I can't find any for sale currently only the later model Glanza so if there are no earlier starlets in Finland would this also cause big problems.
Thanks, Andy.

That would be 2nd one on the road here: www.ajoneuvotiedot.fi/toyota/
There has the GT turbo different headlights? Couldn't you swap proper lights from non turbo or non gt model?